Contents

Traditional narrative

The personal name of Emperor Kōnin (imina) was Shirakabe (白壁)[4] As a son of Imperial Prince Shiki and a grandson of Emperor Tenji,[5] his formal style was Prince Shirakabe. Initially, he was not in line for succession, as Emperor Tenmu and his branch held the throne.

He married Imperial Princess Ikami, a daughter of Emperor Shōmu, producing a daughter and a son. After his sister in law, Empress Shōtoku (also Empress Kōken), died, he was named her heir. The high courtiers claimed the empress had left her will in a letter in which she had appointed him as her successor. Prior to this, he had been considered a gentle man without political ambition.

Events of Kōnin's life

September 8, 769 (Jingo-keiun 3, 4th day of the 8th month[7]): In the 5th year of Empress Shōtoku's reign, she died; she is said to have written a letter designating Senior Counselor Prince Shirakabe as her heir and crown prince.[8]

August 28, 770[9] (Jingo-keiun 4, 4th day of the 8th month[10]): Exactly one (Japanese era-based) year later, the succession (senso) was received by Kōnin, who was the 62-year-old grandson of Emperor Tenji.[11]

October 23, 770 (Jingo-keiun 4, 1st day of the 10th month[12]): Emperor Kōnin was said to have acceded to the throne (sokui) in a formal ceremony, following the plans of the nobles and ministers to have him placed on the throne. The era name was also changed on this date, to Hōki[13]

781 (Ten'ō 1, 4th month[14]): The emperor abdicated in favor of his son Yamabe, who became Emperor Kanmu. Emperor Kōnin's reign had lasted for 11 years.[6]

Eras of Kōnin's reign

Legacy

Kōnin attempted to reconstruct the state finance and administrative organizations, which had been corrupted under the reign of Empress Kōken.

Political conflict around his successors

Soon after his enthronement in 770 (Hōki 1), he promoted his wife Imperial Princess Ikami to the empress and appointed her son Imperial Prince Osabe to the crown prince in the next year. As a grandson of Emperor Shōmu by his mother, Osabe was one of few descendants of Emperor Tenmu, the line of Tenmu however didn't succeed to the throne finally. In 772 Osabe was deprived of his crown prince rank and Imperial Prince Yamabe, an issue by another woman, later Emperor Kanmu was named heir.

According to the Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀), the replacement happened as follows: in the third month of Hōki 3 (772), Ikami was accused of cursing her husband and Emperor Kōnin stripped her of the rank of Empress. In the fifth month of this year his son Osabe was deprived his crown prince status. In Hōki 4 (773), both were alleged to have murdered Imperial Princess Naniwa, a sister of Kōnin by cursing. This allegation made those two stripped of the rank of royals. Those two were together enclosed in a house in Yamato Province and died two years later in the same day, on the 27th day of the fourth month of Hōki 6 (on the Julian Calendar, on May 29, 775).

In 772, soon after Osabe's deprivation of heir right, Prince Yamabe was named heir. His mother Takano no Niigasa, née Yamato no Niigasa, was a descendant of King Muryeong of Baekje. Since her clan had then no political power, his appointment had not been likely to happen without the deprivation of Osabe, the noblest male issue of Konin as the son of an Imperial Princess and Empress.

Today it is pointed out the accusations to Ikami and Osada were likely to be plotted for depriving her son of the throne, and they were likely to be assassinated, by Fujiwara no Momokawa.

The late years of Kōnin's reign and the early years of Kanmu's reign suffered disasters. The people took those disasters as vengeance of noble victims of political conflicts, including late Ikami and Osada. In 800 during the reign of Kanmu, the late[clarification needed] Princess Ikami was restored to the rank of Empress. Several shrines and temples were also founded for redemption, including Kamigoryō Shrine (ja:上御霊神社).

Kugyō

Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.

In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Kōnin's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included: